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 Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2024 12:23 am
Plenty of things that Ilmari had encountered in the months since he’d first Awakened had felt like something he wanted to pawn off onto someone else. He hadn’t done that, for the most part. An unwillingness to do one’s own work was the sort of quality that the Negaverse didn’t need in any of its operatives, period. The Negaverse was as close to a true meritocracy as anywhere in this world could be, which meant that one needed to put work in to get anywhere. You wouldn’t endear yourself or prove your mettle to your higher-ups without putting in the necessary effort for yourself, taking on jobs even if they scared you, and being willing to get hit in the face sometimes.
……Well. Maybe hit in the ribs instead. Ilmari could explain bruises on his torso to his parents; he didn’t think he’d have as much luck trying to explain any bruises on his face. Aside from that, he couldn’t do any modeling work if he let his face get too messed up.
The Squire who Ilmari faced off with tonight didn’t seem to understand the concept of not hitting someone’s face, especially somebody as pretty as people liked to tell Ilmari that he was. Maybe he’d taken on too much of a challenge by punching above his power level as he’d decided to do tonight. All a whirl of golds, blues, browns, and a truly inordinate number of flowing scarves, the dangling metal symbols on the Squire’s outfit would have marked them as a Knight of Uranus even if their magic hadn’t. Whorls of desert wind chased after Ilmari, sweltering with heat and teeming with the illusory feeling of sand hitting him in the face. Staying on his toes, he danced around both weapon (a simple cane) and bursts of heated air as the Squire swung at him.
Strictly speaking, Ilmari would have rather avoided this little Squire—but they’d made a whole Thing out of it all, storming over to Ilmari with a self-righteous problem to raise about him draining energy. It was always like that with Order types, always thinking themselves better than everyone else who had to work in this town. Running around and acting like it was hurting people to drain their energy. Worse, this one had resorted to blows when challenged. Ilmari grit his teeth, doing everything he could to stay out of the Squire’s way……but he needed to get the upper hand here. He needed to get this over with, preferably soon.
Hoping for the best—thinking that he’d figure out what to do with the opportunity he created as soon as he saw what the Squire would do—Ilmari blew a kiss at his enemy of the evening. As it took hold of the Squire’s mind, they fumbled to a halt. They groaned about it. Rubbing the heel of their palm against their forehead, they made several lifeless threats against Ilmari……but for all their well chosen words, the Squire didn’t put up any resistance as Ilmari shoved his hand into their chest.
Starseed in hand, he dashed away, quick as he could. No sense in being caught around the body when someone inevitably found it. Ilmari made it several blocks away before anything managed to stop him: a glitter of something gold.
As soon as he picked up the little six-sided die, Ilmari regretted it. Watching the world dissolve around him and darkness take its place, Ilmari sighed and rolled his eyes. He didn’t need this in his life. He really didn’t……and yet, the only way to get through this was probably to play the game.wc: 601.
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Amor Remanet rolled 1 6-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-6)
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Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2024 12:24 am
Quote: space 1: You feel eyes upon you, and hear a faint chuckling, like you’re the butt of someone’s joke. It sets a bad mood for the rest of this game; you’re already being judged–and, it looks like a long road ahead.
Worse, something nagged at the back of his mind while he squinted at the die. A feeling like he needed to move on forward or else he would sorely regret it. Although being a brat was not one of Ilmari’s favorite qualities of his—he fully admitted that he could be a brat when he wanted to, but he didn’t like it when he did so—the irksome sensation of someone or something trying to tell him what to do (when he hadn’t requested or wanted that sort of input) made him plant his little pumps more firmly in the starting square. As he picked up the die, Ilmari wondered if he could get anything better by rolling again. Maybe someone else would have called that cheating, but who was present to judge him?
WHUMP.
Something pummelled into Ilmari’s back. Whanged him clean between the shoulder-blades. He groaned, stumbling forward but stopping just shy of crossing the line into the other square. As he pivoted around, searching for any source of that shove—anyone who could have possibly thought to shove him—Ilmari’s long, pale golden locks whipped around his legs and hips. Part of him welcomed the sensation (each time some of his hair snuck between his legs, it reminded him of the hard-won gap between them, which made him feel slightly more at-ease about all of this messy situation). But looking around didn’t reveal any signs of an origin point, didn’t show Ilmari anyone who could have pushed him.
“Hello?” He called out into the darkness behind him.
The darkness stared back at him, unmoving, without even an echo to make Ilmari feel less alone.
“Hello?” Ilmari crossed his arms and wrinkled his nose. Whatever trickery this nonsense thought it was going to be, he wouldn’t fall for it. He would stand his ground and refuse to let this get to him. Nothing that happened here would make him slip up and embarrass his team. “Hello?! Whoever you are, I know you’re out there—”
WHUMP.
Another shove smacked into Ilmari’s chest. Cut his words off by making him oof! But he didn’t see anybody around him.
Had the shove simply come from nowhere?
As he faltered, that unseen force slammed into him. This time, it knocked hard enough for Ilmari to stumble backwards. He didn’t realize he was crossing into the first proper space, not even as his pumps slid over the line between it and the starting spot. With a thud! that felt insultingly too heavy, he crashed to the ground. Still didn’t entirely process where he was though. Staring blankly back at the space he’d left, Ilmari allowed himself a soft whine of pain.
His brain didn’t catch up to the reality of the situation until he heard something else: laughter.
No visible source for this either, but it was unmistakable regardless: someone, somewhere, was chuckling at Ilmari. Screwing up his nerve and letting himself pout, he rolled the die again. He wasn’t going to just sit here all night and let some ghost or whatever make fun of him like this.wc: 603.
total wc: 1,204.
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Amor Remanet rolled 1 6-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-6)
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Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2024 12:40 am
Quote: space 4: Something smells rotten. You can’t see very far into the darkness, but if you squint closely a dark form seems to be dragging itself along the ground. Sometimes you see a pale hand almost close enough to grab you–or, maybe something does grab you. It’s cold, and frightening, and it’s trying to drag you out of bounds.
Anywhere he didn’t need to listen to the unseen laughter (which had no right to upset him as much as it did, not when Ilmari was a strong Negaverse senshi who did not want to make his team look bad, or make Albite regret taking him on as a secretary, or cast any unfair aspersions on Faustite or anyone else by failing to give the Negaverse his best at every opportunity).
Stomping into the fourth space on the gameboard, though, Ilmari came to regret his haste.
The smell didn’t hit him immediately. When it did, though—rotting and fetid and heavy with the stink of decay—Ilmari couldn’t keep on his toes. His knees wobbled underneath him and he collapsed. As he started retching, he only barely managed to keep himself up with his hands firmly planted in the square. It was a small miracle and a smaller mercy that he could aim well enough to keep the (incredibly scant) contents of his stomach away from the rest of his body.
Maybe nobody else was around to see him getting vomit on his skirt. Maybe he could power down as soon as he got out of this, then power back up, and have a perfectly clean fuku that would bear no signs of what he’d been through. But Ilmari would know that he’d gotten a mess all over himself and that would bother him for the rest of the night.
He hoped he’d have a chance to breathe, as soon as he finished. Even considering the stink of rot and the additional reek of vomit, Ilmari needed a moment to settle, to gather his wits about him more properly. Yet, the gameboard sought to deny him that. A pale hand hovered in the air before him, reaching out, getting so close that he could almost feel it grabbing him and pulling him off to Parts Unknown.
Ilmari couldn’t roll the die again quickly enough.wc: 360.
total wc: 1,564.
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Amor Remanet rolled 1 6-sided dice:
6
Total: 6 (1-6)
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Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2024 12:41 am
Quote: space 10: A swampy smell fills the air. You take a step, and you seem to sink into it. Mud creeps over your feet, and you sink rapidly. Ankle deep, knee deep. Whether or not you squirm and fight against it, you are sinking. The mud is crushing and painful, and if you sink too deep it steals the breath from your lungs. There’s nothing to grab onto; you have to roll your dice quickly before that too gets sucked into the muddy quicksand.
As he slipped into the gameboard’s tenth space, though, he once again regretted that desire to move on. The smell wasn’t so bad this time—earthy and stinking, the fetid smell of swamp; not one that Ilmari liked very much, but it also wasn’t making him throw up—but the ground fully squelched as he stepped into it. Trying to move forward as fast as he could, Ilmari felt himself sinking. Mud rushed up over his ankles, then his knees, pulling him down, down, down.
He rolled as quickly as he could, wasting no time in bemoaning his wretched state. He needed to get out of here, like, now.wc: 125.
total wc: 1,689.
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Amor Remanet rolled 1 6-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-6)
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Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2024 12:43 am
Quote: space 13: At first, the square is quiet. Nothing seems amiss. It’s unnerving in how safe it seems. But then, it only takes a few seconds before you understand why. It’s just taken a moment for them to get to you. The patter of tiny feet is rapidly approaching. There’s no light to see them, but there’s a reflection in their beady eyes. Rats. Thousands of them. Chittering, frothing in the mouth. These are strangely grotesque, mutated abominations. They’re running at you like they haven’t got a fear in the world–only, hungry. And rage. If they get to you, they’ll eat you alive. The ground is trembling with their weight. You’d better roll quickly if you don’t wind up a meal.
Square number thirteen seemed alright, at first. Quiet. Untroubled. Very mindful, very demure. Ilmari appreciated the breathing room, not least because it gave him a chance to check himself over. No apparent injuries to speak of, or at least, nothing about him felt amiss. Whatever mess had gotten on him in the previous squares, it didn’t seem to remain, now that he’d moved on.
Instead, Ilmari felt something skitter across his foot.
He heard chittering sounds and little squeaks.
The ground beneath him trembled, heavy with the weight of mutated rats, but trying to rush ahead led him to crash, face-first, into the invisible wall at the edge of the square. Of course this asinine contraption had an invisible wall to prevent Ilmari from moving ahead. Taking a deep, shaky breath, Ilmari held out his palm and rolled the die in there again. He wasn’t going to stay here any longer than necessary, and he didn’t want to risk any bites by rolling on the ground.wc: 195.
total wc: 1,884.
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Amor Remanet rolled 1 6-sided dice:
4
Total: 4 (1-6)
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Posted: Fri Nov 01, 2024 12:44 am
Quote: space 17: Something howls in the distance. It’s loud and echoes with such ferocity it seems to shake you. On the other side of you–another howl. Closer. This one is loud enough to hurt your ears. The ground trembles with the force of something charging at you. A growl, a snarl. Yellow eyes staring you down. There’s not just one monster out there–there’s several, and they’re all coming for you.
The howl that echoed through the square didn’t upset Ilmari much. Oh, boy. Werewolf movies. Whatever.
A second howl sounded, seeming closer this time. Yet, Ilmari remained focused on settling his nerves before letting himself move on. He wouldn’t get out of this mess in one piece if he allowed himself to get distracted, or to lose his own head in fear. Besides, he didn’t really rate werewolves too highly (though he knew better than to say so on the Internet, where furries and werewolf-enjoyers would either pay good money for his art or try to ruin him if he sufficiently pissed them off).
Even if that second howl did hurt his ears a little.
When he heard the snarl and saw the yellow eyes glaring at him in the darkness, Ilmari could only manage enough energy to roll his eyes. This entire experience had been atrocious, and now the gameboard wanted Ilmari to let some annoying beast swoop in and take him? Oh, he did not think.
Defiantly bored, he rolled the die and hoped that it would be for the last time.wc: 229.
total wc: 2,113.
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Amor Remanet rolled 1 6-sided dice:
4
Total: 4 (1-6)
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Posted: Thu Jan 09, 2025 12:43 pm
Quote: exit: The end; once you have arrived here you are free to leave. You will see be basked in the glow of a beautiful, opalescent aura that will take you back home. When you arrive back in Destiny City, you may choose to keep the six sided die–if nothing else, it’s pretty! Though, it doesn’t seem to have any magical qualities, that might be for the best.
Ilmari only barely managed enough of a thought to snatch up the die and bring it with him. Part of him wanted to trust that the gameboard would let him out when he got to the glowing exit space. But another part of him didn’t trust that promise worth a good goddamn. In case any odd shenanigans happened to be afoot, he took the die with him. He didn’t want to get caught without it and end up finding out that it was crucially important after all.
Thankfully, the glowing opalescent aura at the end didn’t pull a fast one on him. Ilmari stumbled through it and back onto the streets of Destiny City. Heaving a sigh, he powered back down into Baz. He needed to get the whole stench of this out of his system before he went back home to Jayce and Gilbert. The locker he rented at his usual gym had some spare workout clothes in there, plus a toothbrush and toothpaste so he could get the taste of throwing up out of his mouth before the acid had too much of a chance to wreck his teeth. On top of that, the gym itself was open all-night. Maybe he’d just done an awful lot of running through the gameboard as Ilmari, but hitting a proper treadmill for a while would help him clear his head.
If not that exactly, then at least it might leave Baz too tired to think about it much.wc: 255.
total wc: 2,368.
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